Oil Pressure Light

tbmcclure · #1 06-05-2009, 12:00 AM

I want to start off with: Yes, I have changed the Oil Pressure Sending Unit/Sensor.

The wife took the car to Wal-Mart (back in January) to have the oil changed (mistake #1) ever since then I've had this problem. I have since had the sensor changed out and an oil change.

For whatever reason my '04 Stratus will have the oil pressure light flicker on. It only happens when the car is at idle, and the engine is warm. If you are normally driving, nothing. If the engine is cold, nothing.

I have 132k miles on the Stratus right now, and have been running Valvoline MaxLife 10w30 since 75k miles untill around 120k when I noticed that manual said run 5w30. I've run 2 motor flushes through the car, maybe one 2 years ago, and another about 4-5 months ago. With the oil change to 5w30 I noticed a burning oil smell here and there (chalked it up to the thicker oil). Oil level is always where it should be.

I don't have a pressure guage on the console, and I don't have a guage to connect to the car directly. I haven't taken it to a shop, because it is so infrequent, I can't gaurantee that it will happen while at the shop.

Wal-Mart? Sending Unit? Oil Pump? Sludge Monster? I have no idea.

Tim
'04 Dodge Stratus V6, Flex Fuel

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ratsttam · #2 06-05-2009, 12:50 PM

my '00 did the exact same thing. It stopped happening when I changed the valve cover gaskets. I suspected it was fixed due to air bleeding through the failed gasket, lowering the overall pressure. As a side note, I wasnt' looking to fix the flickering light, but I had started to see oil inside the spark plug cylinders. The pressure issue just happened to be fixed by the same.

tbmcclure · #3 06-05-2009, 09:36 PM

Along the line of valve covers, might the pcv valve do this if stuck in the open position??

ratsttam · #4 06-05-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbmcclure

Along the line of valve covers, might the pcv valve do this if stuck in the open position??

If it's letting pressure out, than yes, it's a possibility.